The Kill Clause

I've read most Orphan novels and enjoyed each. With the law enforcement angle this is a bit different but just as engaging. I keep km y eyes open for Mr Hurwitz' next mission !

Have read all the Gray (Grey?) Man books, I thought nothing could be better. I was wrong! He hooked and reeled me in for one fantastic ride. Loved the ending. Outstanding read!

Than this book (especially the beginning) is a book for you. Tim - a debuty marshall - lost his daughter. The murderer of his girl could leave the courtroom as a free man, because he couldn't understand his miranda rights when arrested; he is deaf. Tim quits his job, his marriage is at risk. Then a so called commission contacted Tim. Their goal is to look for guilty criminals, who were not found guilty by a judge, although the whole world knew, they were guilty. They kill those criminals; with a belief of a higher fairness.Then Tim found out, that life isn't so easy, as the commission wants to belief him. He abort a killing job and ... I don't want to talk to much, cause now follows the part, you have to explore.Hurwitz is a good writer and he writes with a fast pace. Every side is thrilling and you want to know, what will happen next: will he renew his marriage, will he find a way to cooperate with his ex-partner, who is now on a hunt on him, could he stop ... (no, nothing more).This book let you alone with a bad feeling: perhaps you could understand, how it could hurt, when you lost a beloved by a crime. But is it right, to take the law in your own hands? I belive it is not and so I'm confused by this book. And I don't know what to think about Tim, when he changes his mind about killing those criminals. O. k., but I think also, this is what Hurwitz wants. He play games with his readers. And he knows how to.The only con of this book is its length. When you reach the last third of the book you increase the tact of pressing the forward button of your kindle. In the end it is to long with to much irrelevant contents. So I think 4 Stars will make it.

The book was highly rated on Amazon and was a subject that I had wondered about over the years. What if there was a committee who does what should have happened to the worst criminals, but the people were failed by the courts? The storyline was absolutely believable, but was hard to fathom at times. The "conscience" of a cop versus what is right. The family toll described was tough to read, but realistic. The ending was too clean and a bit unbelievable. A good read but only a 3.8 out of 5 rating.

Very enjoyable, fast paced and too close to the reality of a confused judicial system and systemically violent law enforcement officers.

At first I didn’t like this character, but he grew on me as the story progressed. I believe there are follow up novels and I will probably read them. I’ve enjoyed Hurwitz’s other novels so I have high hopes for the next ones I read.

I read a lot and so have lots of other books and authors to compare this too. This one is outstanding and one of the best I have ever read. The characters are brought to life and you feel like you have met them. Some of them you would seriously be afraid to meet. Tim Rackley and Dray his wife have gone through the worst nightmare parents could face. In their grief they respond as you think any parent would battling for their sanity and praying for their relationship to survive. My husband was in law enforcement for over 25 years and said this was "A hell of a good book". We couldn't put it down. Tim Rackley, a highly regarded Deputy Marshall, is lured into a Shadow Justice system with the goal of judging and executing criminals that walked from the legitimate justice system. He maintains a high sense of right and wrong and after his daughter's horrible death he is drawn into a Commision that seeks to right the mistakes made in court. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot that keep you wondering and on edge. I have read lots of Gregg's books and they are all fantastic, absorbing, and keep you guessing. I hope he continues this series and I am about to start The Program. His research alone will keep you enthralled. I hated to come to the end of it. Thank you Gregg Hurwitz!

I have enjoyed the Orphan X books, so I was excited to learn about this series. Unfortunately, you can see why Hurwitz did well with Orphan X, but did not have initial success with this series.First, and this is no spoiler because it happens early in the book, there’s a brutal rape and torture of a child. It’s disgusting, and it’s a cheap way to manufacture drama for Tim. Incredibly disappointing. I’ve never read or seen a graphic rape that I felt was actually needed for the plot, and this was one of the worst.Another ham handed trope we got to deal with was racist bad guys. Hurwitz actually has them use the n word. Not only is this just a lazy way to indicate what a crappy person someone is, he also could have just written “the n word”, as I have here. Hurwitz chose to use the actual slur, which also made me lose respect for him.The entire story was not credible. The main character’s motivations are never clear. The idea that anyone in law enforcement would even speak to him after the things he does is insulting to law enforcement.Then there are the editing errors. Apparently Hurwitz struggles with basic grammar and spelling and just has a better editor now. He misused several words, some repeatedly, so I am forced to conclude that he really doesn’t understand the difference between “rein” and “reign”. The fact that he wrote, multiple times, about “reigning” someone in - ugh. It pulls you out of a story that’s already hard to stay in.This left such a bad taste in my mouth that I may never even read another Hurwitz novel, period, despite my usual enthusiasm for Orphan X.Avoid this. I already regret the time I wasted reading it.In days past, I would have given this one star, but the average quality of writing in books has declined so far in the last decade or so that I am forced to reserve one star for the completely incoherent ramblings I sometimes stumble across here. Don’t take the two stars as an endorsement. It’s awful.

The first novel in the gripping Tim Rackley series from the internationally bestselling author, Gregg Hurwitz and author of one of my favourite action series, Orphan X, The Nowhere Man/Evan Smoak.Tim Rackley is a dangerous man of honor, a deputy U.S. marshal who is very good at his job -- until everything he believes in is shattered by the brutal murder of his own daughter.Betrayed by an imperfect judicial system, Rackley watches helplessly as the killer walks free on a legal technicality. Devastated, furious, and burning with a righteous need for vengeance, he is suddenly forced to explore his own deadly options -- a quest that leads him into a shadowy no-man's-land between justice and the law... and into the welcoming fold of "the Commission." A vigilante group made up of people like him -- relentless streetwise operators who have each lost a loved one to violent crime -- the Commission confronts the failings of a system that sets predators loose to hunt again, cleaning up society's "mistakes" covertly, efficiently, and permanently.But as he is dragged deeper into a deadly morass of hidden agendas and murderous justice, Tim Rackley discovers that playing God is an excruciating and fearsome task. When his new secret life starts coming unwound at an alarming speed, he is suddenly caught in the most terrifying struggle he has ever faced -- a desperate battle to save his marriage, his career, his life, his soul... and everything left that's worth fighting for.The action and technology devices keep this fast paced thriller moving along, interesting characters including Bear, a good friend, lots of very nasty characters.An impressive start to this series, maybe a little too long, but I understand an introduction to a new character and introductions to many rather nasty villains.I do have number two and three in the series ready to start, although I personally prefer the Orphan Man seriesBut a great author and 4 stars

Fantastic book, and great value for money coming in at 560+ pages of must-turn drama.Other reviewers have done a better job than I can of explaining the story line but what I loved about this book was the graphically described descent from a man who believed justice was black and white, into what essentially became vigilantism dressed up as a noble clearing-up of the justice system's failures. And then his jarring realisation that he was turning into the people he was trying to kill.As a father I had to turn several pages at a time whenever the author discussed what happened to the main characters' child, but that's because it was visceral, raw detail that helped shape the narrative within the book. It can be uncomfortable reading at times, but the author lays it bare for us to see and (a little) understand.Tons of fantastic technical detail - don't let that put you off if you're not into procedural thrillers because there's enough to be interesting, without making it sound like you're reading a manual.The book is billed as "Tim Rackley Book 1" and I can't imagine where the hero would go after this but I sure hope Gregg Hurwitz lets us know.

I stumbled upon Mr Hurwitz by accident and enjoyed the Orphan X series, with the exception of The Nowhere Man, so decided to try his earlier work. The Tim Rackley character just does not work for me, nor does his awful wife. The violence in this book is horrendously graphic. The plot simply does not work, and most of the characters are hideous. I could find no redeeming features. His writing does get better with practice although the graphic violence continues in the Orphan X series, but it is at least more comic book violence than Tim Rackley's, which verges on the pornographic.

I've only recently discovered Gregg Hurwitz and he's rapidly becoming a favourite. I'm aware that I may not be a 'typical reader' in that I really enjoy most technical detail and I like to believe that it's accurate even when, really, I wouldn't know if it wasn't! I also like credibility to be stretched but not too much. Gregg Hurwitz satisfies these requirements in glowing style while still providing fully fleshed-out characters about whom the reader really cares.As other reviewers have said, this book manages to portray a hero who is on a crusade but who never becomes a 'bad man'. Too many novels of this type are poorly written, in an adolescent style and become like text versions of a shoot-em-up video game. Not this one. This is proper writing, well plotted and paced and, even though extreme, the violence always seems appropriate. The one jarring note within the character representation is that, having established Rackley's wife's character as a strong, intelligent and capable woman, she allows a 'cuckoo' to enter the family nest inappropriately. This, to me, was a break in the reality. The character of Bear is brilliant and I didn't appreciate some of the importance of minor detail revealed early on until those details became so important in the final few pages.Having now read The Kill Clause and Orphan X, there are some very obvious similarities in the make up of the main characters and the plot lines, so I just hope that, having stumbled upon a new (to me) author, Gregg Hurwitz doesn't turn out to be a one trick pony. But I've thoroughly enjoyed both books so I'll now follow both characters through their next adventures. Good writing, entrancing technical detail, a fast pace with plenty of action and all just this side of believable: bring it on!

What was I thinking of? A book about vigilantes? Read 8% and gave up this nasty, violent paper thin story of cardboard cutouts and lovingly described guns and shooting. Perhaps D Trump would appreciate it, not me. So hard to tell from reviews what will suit but this was a big mistake on my part. Why did I love George Pelecanos on a theme not so dissimilar but oh so differently ( read superior) written. Guess that’s why GP is so widely recommended and I’d never heard of this guy. My mistake, will not touch with barge pole and just pleased I’d not paid a fortune to try this author.